Editorial: Facts are ornery things for city manager John Regan

In a prepared statement issued Tuesday by the city manager in the aftermath of Monday evening’s city commission meeting, Regan said, in considering whether the city will put on the local 2020 Independence Day fireworks, he must think about the impact of, “… crossing beyond a date that results in unnecessary expenditures.”

In what may go down as one of the most hysterical misquotes of Regan’s overdue departure from city government, one of the last remaining reporters at The Record wrote:

… we don’t (want) to have them unnecessarily spending money,” Regan said.

St Augustine Record, Sheldon Gardner

John Regan has NEVER been concerned about unnecessarily spending other people’s money. Just look at the money he spent to “give away” COVID-19 thermometers, or the hundreds of thousands of face masks purchased for resale that will no doubt wind up in the hands of cronies, like happened with the 450th coffee table books at $50 apiece.

Or, the seemingly endless list of trinkets and baubles that fall under the category of “shiny new things” that are regularly purchased by Regan, without competing bids, and without research, or worse, with research only by the charlatan pitching the sale to the pie-eyed city manager.

The obvious purpose of the statement was to push the spotlight off the fact that Regan outright lied to the commissioners Monday night about what nearby cities are doing with their fireworks displays. In the meeting, Regan stated unequivocally that the City of Jacksonville Beach and the City of Daytona Beach “had cancelled their displays when, in fact, their final decisions are still pending.”

Regan says that the false statement “was not fully vetted for accuracy.” Historic City News subscribers more likely say that Regan is running out of “get out of jail free” cards. He is going to have to stop pandering to three members of the commission just so he gets his way. And, if there is any justice in the world, Regan must be held accountable for the consequences of his actions.